On Thu, 14 Dec 2017 02:14:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

The control tower stairs were. Maybe a 60degree angle. Steep.

In the building code there is a certain point in the rise and run of
steps when they become a "ladder".
Most attic steps fall into that category.
It becomes important in egress routes among other things. That becomes
troublesome when people make an attic a "loft".

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:35:41 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/13/2017 9:13 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 17:39:13 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

NSS Annapolis started as a transmitter site in 1918 using an 500
kilowatt arc transmitter. Over the years it was continuously upgraded
for fleet HF and LF communications. The Very Low Frequency (VLF)
transmitter and antennas were constructed during the Cold War for
communicating with our submarine fleet. Satellite communications made
it obsolete and no longer needed.

I thought they still had some VLF stuff. I remember they were
protesting in Alaska because there was some kind of array up there
(HAARP?).
This array was supposed to be capable of talking to a sub under the
polar ice. They said it was screwing up the Caribou and Polar Bears,
maybe even altering human DNA or some other horrible thing. There were
signs hanging around everywhere once you got out of Anchorage.



There are several Navy VLF transmitters still in operation according to Wiki

There's one in Cutler, Maine, another in Washington state, one in
Australia and another in Hawaii. The one in Australia is no longer
operated by the US or Australian Navy. It's operation has been
subcontracted to Raytheon Australia.

I spent a total of four years at two different transmitter sites with
VLF equipment. The one in Ponce, Puerto Rico and the one in Annapolis
have since been decommissioned.

They shut down the one in Alaska too. That was far more than a tall
tower tho. This was acres of antenna.

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 22:01:48 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Found this pic, taken from the top of the 1200' tower at the Navy
Transmitter Site, Puerto Rico:

http://www.navy-radio.com/commsta/pr/Aguada-Tower.jpg

cool

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 17:39:13 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/13/2017 3:10 PM, John H wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 19:47:01 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/13/2017 1:24 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/13/2017 12:59 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 11:29:12 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/13/2017 11:06 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 12/13/17 11:01 AM, Its Me wrote:
On Wednesday, December 13, 2017 at 10:54:52 AM UTC-5,
wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:36:13 -0500, John H
wrote:

http://www.modelaircraft.org/aboutama/faa-uas-faq.aspx

"On December 12, 2017, President Trump signed legislation that will
reverse the earlier court ruling
in the John Taylor case and restore the FAA’s UAS registration
requirement, including for AMA
members.

AMA believes that registration makes sense at some level, but has
pushed for a more reasonable
threshold. While we address these issues, members will be legally
required to comply with the FAA
registration requirement."

Glad I wasn't one of the those who wrote FAA for a refund and
cancellation of my number. But, I have
to admit I've not been doing much flying lately anyway!

I got my number for free during the initial offering but I don't have
a drone yet. I am still not sure why I want one..

I justified mine by doing my own roof inspection.*

Actually, a co-worker had some roof damage from a storm, and when the
roofing company came out to quote the work, they used a drone to
inspect the damage.* Easier and safer than a ladder.



Pretty cool.


Now if they could only come out with an inexpensive drone powerful
enough to lift some of the people here* .... including me.* Don't like
ladders.


It may be too late for those of us who didn't develop it when we were
young but ladders are an acquired skill. I really got over my problems
with them when I put on the 2 story addition in Maryland. The peak
where I was hanging aluminum siding was about 25 feet up
That was 40 years ago tho. I carried 9 square of shingles up a ladder
too. (27 bundles) but it was only up one story on the ladder off the
deck in the rear and another story up the steps.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/1977%20house.jpg


When I was young ladders didn't bother me at all, nor did standing near
the edge of a high roof top.

I didn't really notice a "problem" until much later in life and the
first time was scary.* I didn't expect any problem but when it hit, it
was hold on, close my eyes and wait until it passed.


Was just remembering one of my last adventures in the Navy. It was
during my last year and I wanted to climb one of the 800 ft towers that
surrounded and supported a 1200 ft ELF transmitter antenna. I got
permission to climb it and did so. Made it to the top and replaced the
red beacon light while I was there. The decent was much, much more
tiring than the climb up. Going up the ladders, you are using leg
muscles mostly but coming down you are using your arms much more. By
the time I got to the bottom I was shaking from muscle fatigue. Learned
some respect for the guys that do that on a regular basis.

Of course, I was about 29 years old then. Couldn't even think about it now.




Sort of like the steep stairs to the Control tower at Travis AFB. That was
a tiring climb.

Before getting drafted I built and worked on these surveying towers for the Coast & Geodetic Survey.
Wouldn't even consider it now.

http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/...QS5qcGc=/?ref=



Here's a pic of the 1200' VLF transmitter antenna (center) and the five
surrounding, 800' support antennas before most were removed in 1999. I
climbed one of the 800' ones. The configuration of the antennas formed
a inductive and capacitive load for the million watt VLF transmitter.
It's all gone now except I understand that three of the smaller towers
remain for historical purposes. It's located on Greenbury Point, in
Anne Arundel County.

http://www.virhistory.com/navy/commsta/anna/annapolis-ant-1994.jpg

NSS Annapolis started as a transmitter site in 1918 using an 500
kilowatt arc transmitter. Over the years it was continuously upgraded
for fleet HF and LF communications. The Very Low Frequency (VLF)
transmitter and antennas were constructed during the Cold War for
communicating with our submarine fleet. Satellite communications made
it obsolete and no longer needed.


===

We see those towers when we go through the Chesapeake.

Here's an article about a guy who tried to climb one of them.

http://www.capitalgazette.com/cg2-arc-a5ffb380-c952-5fc0-b111-309a029f4d2f-20130227-story.html

---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

wrote:
On Thu, 14 Dec 2017 02:14:06 -0000 (UTC), Bill
wrote:

The control tower stairs were. Maybe a 60degree angle. Steep.

In the building code there is a certain point in the rise and run of
steps when they become a "ladder".
Most attic steps fall into that category.
It becomes important in egress routes among other things. That becomes
troublesome when people make an attic a "loft".


They have since replaced the tower. The tower when I was there was
probably built before building codes. Possibly early 30’s.

On 12/13/2017 10:43 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:35:41 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/13/2017 9:13 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 17:39:13 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

NSS Annapolis started as a transmitter site in 1918 using an 500
kilowatt arc transmitter. Over the years it was continuously upgraded
for fleet HF and LF communications. The Very Low Frequency (VLF)
transmitter and antennas were constructed during the Cold War for
communicating with our submarine fleet. Satellite communications made
it obsolete and no longer needed.

I thought they still had some VLF stuff. I remember they were
protesting in Alaska because there was some kind of array up there
(HAARP?).
This array was supposed to be capable of talking to a sub under the
polar ice. They said it was screwing up the Caribou and Polar Bears,
maybe even altering human DNA or some other horrible thing. There were
signs hanging around everywhere once you got out of Anchorage.



There are several Navy VLF transmitters still in operation according to Wiki

There's one in Cutler, Maine, another in Washington state, one in
Australia and another in Hawaii. The one in Australia is no longer
operated by the US or Australian Navy. It's operation has been
subcontracted to Raytheon Australia.

I spent a total of four years at two different transmitter sites with
VLF equipment. The one in Ponce, Puerto Rico and the one in Annapolis
have since been decommissioned.

They shut down the one in Alaska too. That was far more than a tall
tower tho. This was acres of antenna.



Most of those sites also had Low Frequency and High Frequency
transmitters and the necessary antennas for them. The one in Puerto
Rico had many in addition to the VLF transmitter. Same with the one in
Annapolis, MD. I forget exactly how many but I remember at least 15 to
20 HF transmitters and maybe about 10 Low Freq transmitters. More
transmitters than antennas but there was a big board where you could
patch a particular transmitter to a particular antenna.

On Wednesday, December 13, 2017 at 9:02:38 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 15:11:56 -0500, John H
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 11:32:18 -0500, wrote:

On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 08:01:35 -0800 (PST), Its Me
wrote:

On Wednesday, December 13, 2017 at 10:54:52 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:36:13 -0500, John H
wrote:

http://www.modelaircraft.org/aboutama/faa-uas-faq.aspx

"On December 12, 2017, President Trump signed legislation that will reverse the earlier court ruling
in the John Taylor case and restore the FAA’s UAS registration requirement, including for AMA
members.

AMA believes that registration makes sense at some level, but has pushed for a more reasonable
threshold. While we address these issues, members will be legally required to comply with the FAA
registration requirement."

Glad I wasn't one of the those who wrote FAA for a refund and cancellation of my number. But, I have
to admit I've not been doing much flying lately anyway!

I got my number for free during the initial offering but I don't have
a drone yet. I am still not sure why I want one..

I justified mine by doing my own roof inspection.

Actually, a co-worker had some roof damage from a storm, and when the roofing company came out to quote the work, they used a drone to inspect the damage. Easier and safer than a ladder.

I am not afraid of ladders but I can get up on my roof without one.
The edge is only about 7-8' off the ground.
I might play with a drone out in the mangroves but if it went down it
is probably gone forever.

You can get them with battery warnings and a 'come home' switch.

What happens if an Osprey thinks it is trying to invade his territory?
;-)

I was flying mine around the neighborhood one day and when it came back in sight there were 3-4 hawks chasing it. I had unknowingly flown into their hunting path and they weren't happy. I brought it in and landed quickly. If one of them attacked I doubt the stability control on the drone could recover before it crashed.